1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of golf stance and ball position aids for practice of a golf stroke.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior U.S. patents disclose several devices for positioning a golfer's stance in relation to a ball to be struck. However, they do not offer the simplicity of manufacture and use provided by the present invention.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,608 (Funk) discloses a "Golfer's Setup Device" comprising a pair of rulers, 40 and 80, mounted transversely to each other using an attachment that allows each ruler to slide along its length relative to the attachment. Two foot position and angle strips, 50 and 52, are slidably mounted on the main ruler. This device is highly flexible, but the user must calculate or look-up several angles and distances, slide the rulers to numbers on scales in two dimensions, slide the two foot position indicators to numbers on scales, and set the angles of the foot position strips. The correct numbers and angles for each golf club or range of clubs must be entered and referenced in a table. This is much more complicated to use than the present invention, and the construction is more expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,683 (Wooland) discloses a "Golfer's Stance Positioning Aid". It is similar to Funk above, in providing a two-way slide connection between two transverse members, 10 and 12. Indicia on the transverse members are graduated in club numbers. It provides fine incremental adjustability, but is unnecessarily complex to use, since two adjustments must be made for each change of club.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,739 (Kabbany) discloses a "Golfer's Stance Positioning Device" comprising two elongated members transversely pivotally connected together. One member has indicia for foot placement per club. The other member is slidable relative to the first member, and indicates its extension from the first member for ball placement per club. It uses a combination pivot and slide connection between the two members which is eliminated in the present invention.